Kite on Your Own Land!

[chanrider]

My new mantra. Tantra & Shakra to follow. Well I’ve been wondering how my parent’s farm would work for several years. I knew it would be a challenge. So for my first winter sesh I went for it. Shoulda just rigged next to the house and gone off into the closest field, but wanting an adventure I started hauling a sled with gear across the fields to a small lake that borders their property.

Since the wind was directly at my back it wasn’t too bad on Kmart cross country skis. I got to the lake and set up as normal. It was pretty windy, but where I set up it was very quiet so that might be an issue. Anyway I got the kite up and it was crazy. Had to keep it high cuz there were trees and ridges around the lake that killed the wind down low. And the whole short sesh was like a firehose constantly being turned on and off. Getting ripped out of your boots one second and the kite falling to the snow the next.

Thank goodness the T2 9 is stable kite or I would’ve gotten killed. Did I mention my parents dog spent around 5 minutes chewing on the bridle lines before this sesh?

So I packed it in after 30 minutes of off kilter riding, much of which was spent getting back upwind to where I launched so I didn’t have to waste more time and energy hauling the gear home.

Well in the end it didn’t matter. Hauling a heavy sled with Kmart XC skis uphill and against the wind is a non-starter. Had to put the XC skis in the sled and push the entire mess home in the Kmart boots! Where the snow was not so deep I could pull. It took a while to get home.

All in all I learned a few things, but what a great sesh! The sun even poked through a few times! And I’ve never been so happy as to see the car and the house!

I guess some kiting is about exploring even when you know it might suck. I definitely knew that going into this sesh but did it anyway. And I’m glad I did. My parents farm still might be kitable, just gotta think more about wind directions, tree lines, ridges and other factors. It’s 130 acres, 100 of which are plowed. There is kiting with sufficient snow cover to be had. Just need to figure it out!

[Dudes]

Way to get out there Mike and just give it a try. It's great to hear that you had a great time even though things weren't exactly ideal